Monday, August 4, 2014

King Conan: The Conqueror #6 - A Review

Until this final chapter, Tim Truman seemed content to avoid any major changes to the story in his adaptation of Robert E. Howard's The Hour Of The Dragon. Indeed, the entire text had remained untouched, as far as my expert eye could tell. And Truman's only addition to the tale was a frame story, depicting an aged Conan as he related the events of his adventures to a scribe recording the history of his reign.

The script here replaces what was originally a nameless virgin primed for a sacrificial altar with Zenobia - the slave-girl who saved Conan's life and won his heart several chapters earlier. Truman's change is a minor, but understandable one. The final chapter of Howard's original tale was chiefly concerned with epic battles between thousands of soldiers and Conan's direct role in the action was rather limited. This change not only allows Conan to play the hero but also enables Zenobia to be directly involved in the story's conclusion, when originally she disappeared from the narrative completely after saving Conan's life.

While Howard purists may argue about the changes in the script, all will agree that Tomas Giorello and Jose Villarrubia do a fine job of depicting the action. These two artists set the gold-standard for Conan artwork with their run on the series several years ago and I shall be sad to see them gone. Hopefully there will be another collaboration between them and Tim Truman shortly.